Council Member Guest Editorial
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E-newsletter: No 107. October 2010 Deadline for next issue: Wednesday 14 November 2012 Council member guest editorial In 2005, I remember giving a presentation to my fellow reference librarians at Christchurch City Libraries on a range of electronic resources providing information about New Zealand’s environment. The Network’s website particularly impressed me and it wasn’t long before I signed up as a member. Back then, I never would have predicted that I would have the opportunity to contribute to that impressive website, but here I am doing just that! As many of you will have read in the August issue of Trilepidea, the Network’s website is undergoing some redevelopment to improve usability. I am enjoying the challenge of helping to improve access to the amazing trove of information contained on our website. I’ve rediscovered hidden corners of the website I’d forgotten about and great new additions such as the lichens and macroalgae species pages. The amazing range of images contributed by hundreds of photographers is a powerful resource that will feature more prominently in the redeveloped site. The new site will be launched soon and I am looking forward to hearing what people think about the changes. Keep your ears and eyes open for the new website and please send your feedback to: [email protected]. There will also be some exciting changes to the Favourite Native Plant vote this year. Though some people may find this annual exercise a bit frivolous, I think it provides a good excuse to share our love for native plants with everyone. For many Network members, obscure plants are dear to their hearts. When these less-well known species rank highly in the Favourite Native Plant voting, it draws attention to diversity of our native flora. It is interesting to see how the voting patterns have changed over the years the Network has run the vote. In the early days, the obvious iconic species dominated but, within a short time, these have been replaced by rare, unusual or threatened species. Last year both the Favourite Native Plant and the Bird of the Year winners were wetland species (giant bamboo rush Sporadanthus ferrugineus and pukeko, respectively). These results contrast with the negative associations wetlands have in popular culture. Wetlands are rich in diversity and, with so few original wetlands remaining, I find it heartening to see wetland species gaining some ‘celebrity status’. Last year I felt a bit like a celebrity handler travelling from Wellington to Invercargill with a floweringAstelia solandri. The Air New Zealand flight staff were very considerate in allowing me to bring my precious plant as additional carry-on luggage. On the flight, I had several people ask me about my plant and I shamelessly used it as an excuse to talk about native plants and encourage people to visit our website and cast their vote. Many people were impressed at the beauty of the flower and surprised to hear it was a native. I encourage you all to vote again this year and please ask your fiends, families and work colleagues to log on and vote too. What publicity stunt will you pull for an excuse to talk to a stranger about native plants? Jesse Bythell Jesse Bythell, Sofia Mathias and [email protected] Astelia solandri. 1 PLANT OF THE MONTH – OLEARIA CHEESEMANII Plant of the Month for October is Olearia cheesemanii (streamside tree daisy, Cheeseman’s tree daisy). Olearia cheesemanii forms a large shrub or small tree that can grow up to 4 m tall. It is endemic to both North and South Islands; from Ohinemuri River in Waikato to the Tararua Ranges in the North Island but in the South Island it is confined to North West Nelson and the Westport area. In the spring and early summer, it becomes covered in white daisy flowers that make it a very attractive shrub for the garden. Its bark is grey, flaking in long strips with the smaller branchlets covered in a buff tomentum. It can be propagated easily from semi- hardwood cuttings or fresh seed and grows best in moist soils in sun or semi-shade. Olearia cheesemanii is most likely to be confused with the O. arborescens. It differs in its narrower, lanceolate leaves, usually smaller stature, and its habitat preferences. The Network fact sheet for Olearia cheesemanii may be found at: Olearia cheesemanii. Photo: Jeremy Rolfe. www.nzpcn.org.nz/flora_details.asp?ID=184 Network Council meeting Network Annual General Meeting and Preceding the AGM, the Network Council “Bringing natives back to the city” will meet in Christchurch on Thursday 29 The Network’s 2012 AGM will be held in the November. If anyone has any issue that Canterbury Horticultural Centre, Hagley Park, they would like the Council to discuss, Christchurch, on Thursday 29 November please contact the President, Philippa Crisp commencing at 5.30 pm. The meeting will ([email protected]) at least week include the presentation of the Network’s before the meeting. awards for 2012. Following a short break at 7.00 pm, the AGM will be followed at 7.30 pm Erratum by talks by two well-known local speakers, In the September issue of Trilepidea (issue Dr Judith Roper-Lindsay (Chair, Greening 106), it was stated on page 4, paragraph 2, line 4 that Pittosporum obcordatum’s habitat the Rubble Board of Trustees) and Dr Colin was “shrubland above 50 m a.s.l.” when it Meurk (Landcare Research). So that we know should have said “shrubland below 500 m the numbers for catering, those who will a.s.l.”. The electronic copy on the Network’s attend are asked to RSVP by 22 November to website has been corrected; any members [email protected]. who have hard copies of the issue should make the correction. 2 New Zealand Dracophyllum now fully described on Network website The Network’s species pages for all 35 New Zealand Dracophyllum taxa are now completed thanks to Peter de Lange who prepared the text and many photographers around the country who provided images to illustrate them. This work includes the 18 metre tall Chatham Island grass tree (tarahinau)—Dracophyllum arboreum—and the pineapple tree (mountain neinei)—Dracophyllum traversii. This Dracophyllum work is based on the PhD of Fanie Venter (Venter 2009). There are still two species for which we still seek images. They are Dracophyllum pearsonii and D. politum. If you can help plug either of these gaps please email us ([email protected]). Dracophyllum menziesii. Photo: Mike Thorsen. Reference Venter, S. 2009: A taxonomic revision of the genus Dracophyllum Labill. (Ericaceae). Unpublished PhD thesis, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington. New Zealand bluebells (Wahlenbergia) Jessie Prebble ([email protected]) The mostly southern-hemisphere genus Wahlenbergia (common names bluebells or harebells) comprises 260 species in the family Campanulaceae. It is one of the largest genera in the family, second only to the mostly northern-hemisphere genus Campanula. The centre of diversity of Wahlenbergia is South Africa, where about 170 species occur (or 65% of the genus). Australia and New Zealand form a secondary centre of diversity, with 29 species currently recognised in Australia, and 10 species in New Zealand. The New Zealand species of Wahlenbergia were last revised by Judith Petterson (Petterson 1997a), who started working on the genus for her MSc thesis in 1953. Sadly, Judith passed away in 2007. Recently, I studied the phylogenetics and species delimitation of Wahlenbergia focusing on New Zealand for my Wahlenbergia pygmaea (or should MSc thesis at Victoria University (Prebble 2010). That work is that be W. albomarginata?) from the Kaweka Ranges. Photos: Jesse Prebble. summarised below. In collaboration with Chris Cupido from Cape Town, and with my supervisors Heidi Meudt and Phil Garnock-Jones, I constructed the first phylogeny of Wahlenbergia, using the chloroplast trnL-F marker and the nuclear ribosomal ITS marker (Prebble et al., 2011). By using a molecular clock, we determined that the genus evolved in South Africa about 30 million years ago (mya), then dispersed to Australia about 5 mya. The New Zealand species form two clades, both rooted within the Australasian clade. This led us to suggest there have been two dispersal events to New Zealand, one leading to a radiation of species with a rhizomatous herbaceous growth form 1.6 mya, and the other leading to a radiation of species with the radicate (also known as tufted) growth form, 0.7 mya. We then explored the relationships and current taxonomy of the New Zealand and Australian species of Wahlenbergia by sequencing many more individuals, and using an additional chloroplast marker, trnK-psbA (Prebble et al., 2012a). The phylogeny was poorly resolved due to low levels of genetic variation in all three markers and some conflict between the nuclear and chloroplast markers. With increased sampling, the pattern of the two introductions from Australia to New Zealand was not so clear. It still appears most likely that the New Zealand rhizomatous species are 3 the result of a single introduction from Australia, but no New Zealand radicate clade was recovered. Due to the general lack of resolution, I also tested the use of AFLP markers on a small dataset and found they could well prove a useful technique for delimiting the New Zealand species of Wahlenbergia (Prebble et al., 2012b). Combining and integrating all available data on Wahlenbergia, including results from the DNA sequencing studies (Prebble et al., 2011; 2012a), the AFLP study (Prebble et al., 2012b), Judith’s morphological work (Petterson 1997a), information on chromosome counts (Petterson et al., 1995), and habitat information (Petterson 1997a), has several implications for the current taxonomy (Prebble et al., 2012b).